Updated: Garmin confirms cyber attack as services come back online

Do not adjust your sets

Garmin users can breathe a sigh of relief, because the outage affecting Garmin services appears to be over. The company was hit by a ransomware cyber attack, which took down its entire operation.

Services are starting to return, the app and dashboard are now accessible and users on social media are reporting that workouts are now syncing.

A check of the Garmin status page shows limited functionality for many of its services, so there may still be disruption for a few days to go.

We've managed to sync runs from the weekend to Garmin Connect – and those are now uploading to Strava too, so users can breathe a sigh of relief.

And Garmin has released this statement:

“Garmin Ltd., today announced it was the victim of a cyber attack that encrypted some of our systems on July 23, 2020. As a result, many of our online services were interrupted including website functions, customer support, customer facing applications, and company communications.

We immediately began to assess the nature of the attack and started remediation. We have no indication that any customer data, including payment information from Garmin Pay was accessed, lost or stolen. Additionally, the functionality of Garmin products was not affected, other than the ability to access online services.

Affected systems are being restored and we expect to return to normal operation over the next few days. We do not expect any material impact to our operations or financial results because of this outage. As our affected systems are restored, we expect some delays as the backlog of information is being processed.
We are grateful for our customers’ patience and understanding during this incident."

Ransomware attack

Starting on 24 July, Garmin users found themselves unable to sync or access any Garmin services after an outage, affected Garmin Connect app and web dashboard, with users unable to log in.

Even call centres and its flyGarmin, Connext, Garmin Pilot Apps, inReach satellite tech (Service Activation and Billing) and Garmin Explore are down.

According to ZDNet, the company took servers offline after a ransomware attack encrypted its internal network, taking down phone lines and even production lines.

And Bleeping Computer has also spoken to Garmin employees, and uploaded evidence of Garmin computers being encrypted by WastedLocker ransomware.

Check our full guide to the best features in Garmin Connect and how to supercharge your Garmin watch with the best apps from Connect IQ.